Given the amount of time we have been able to devote to outdoor activity lately, we thought it fitting we should honor those who make springtime really sing, literally and figuratively. One could, for instance, delve into the increasingly popular activity of birdwatching via an album of 19th-century Japanese brush paintings documenting fifty-six common species—from songbirds to waterfowl. And at ground-level, fish and reptiles are represented, including in a finely printed edition of Thoreau's Of Woodland Pools, Spring-Holes & Ditches, bound by Mark Esser in a design that evokes the world that is hidden just below the surface of the titular locales.
Above all, springtime reminds us that we live in a cyclical world—one where the mechanics of recurrence governs the marking of time. The flowers and trees now bursting into bloom aren’t beholden to the calendar, emerging only when conditions favor it—reminding us of Emerson’s observation that we would do well to “adopt the pace of nature” because “her secret is patience.”
Boston: Impressions Workshop Inc./Cricket Press, 1965. Square quarto. (16)ff. One of 150 copies, signed on the colophon page by the poet, Bernard Bockes, and the illustrator, George Lockwood. Illustrated with fifteen fanciful woodcuts by Lockwood depicting insects, bats, dragons, and mythical beasts. Some are monochromatic prints, but others incorporate many..... More
Alford, MA: 1962. Small quarto. 28ff. One of forty copies. Etched title page and twenty-six fine etchings by Fink, ranging thematically from portraits to botany to insects. Many of Fink's etchings have a decidedly Baskinesque aesthetic, but Fink's circle centered primarily in New York, where he was friendly with Jack..... More
(N.p.): 1976. Three volumes. 22pp.; (14)ff.; (16)ff. With hand-colored illustrations by Amanda Goldman. The first title contains pictures of columbine, water lily, larkspur, and other species. The second volume features vibrant renditions of the chickadee, owl, and other birds. Dolls and Doll Houses is separated into two parts, representing the..... More
London: Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, (1891). Small quarto. 64pp. First edition. With photo-etched illustrations in black & white throughout by Mrs. E. M. Boyd, Mr. R. André, and by the poet, Louisa A. Meredith. Although born in Birmingham, England, Meredith moved to New South Wales, and then Tasmania, after..... More
(Watertown, MA): Anne and David Bromer, 1977. (24)pp. The text is printed on Japanese paper with ornamentation in green. Wood engravings by Sarah Chamberlain, as her first miniature book commission. This is the first miniature book published by the Bromers. Midori Kunikata-Cockram captures the whimsical nature of the text, which..... More
(Japan: c. mid-nineteenth century). Small quarto. (27)ff. A handmade book of delicate Japanese brush paintings of common birds, ranging from sparrows and songbirds to ducks and other fowl. The paintings are executed in a style similar to sumi-e. They are predominantly monochromatic with subtle gradations of black ink, accented with..... More
Paris: La Renaissance du Livre, 1922. Oblong quarto. (13)ff., interleaved with twelve pochoir plates. First edition. A poignant fable about the escapades of a magpie—whose body is made of a pinecone—and three little pinecone chicks as they leave the mantel of the fireplace on which they live to venture out..... More
Petersham, MA: Lone Oak Press, 2005. Oblong quarto. 89pp. From an edition of fourteen deluxe copies and 70 standard copies, this is one of five deluxe copies chosen to be specially bound for the international traveling exhibit "InsideOUT: Contemporary Bindings of Private Press Books," and as such, it does not..... More
(Cranberry Isles, Maine: Tidal Press, c. 1975). Broadside. Signed by the author. A poem and an illustration of a chickadee, both by Charles Wadsworth, who along with his wife, Jean Howard, was proprietor of Tidal Press. Fine. More
